Month: August 2015

“Baseball and Classicism,” by Tom Clark

August 6, 2015

When I was growing up, my parents used to get a paper every Sunday, and I would do exactly what is described in this piece: pull out the sports section and pore over box scores, analyzing the performances of all my favorite players as I lay sprawled across my bedroom floor.  Each time I saw a good performance, my heart would leap, but if one of my favorite players had an oh-for-whatever day, a rock would form in my stomach.  I’ve never taken the time to study statistics for any other sport the way I did for baseball, but somehow I doubt that any other set of numbers could engender this kind of emotional response.

Titled “Baseball and Classicism,” this poem by Tom Clark was first published in Sleepwalker’s Fate: New and Selected Poems in 1992.

*

Every day I peruse the box scores for hours
Sometimes I wonder why I do it
Since I am not going to take a test on it
And no one is going to give me money

The pleasure’s something like that of codes
Of deciphering an ancient alphabet say
So as brightly to picturize Eurydice
In the Elysian Fields on her perfect day

The day she went 5 for 5 against Vic Raschi

This day in baseball: Haskell makes a good punching bag

August 5, 2015

Orioles first baseman Jimmy Hart* earned himself a lifelong ban from baseball when, on August 5, 1901, he punched umpire John Haskell after Haskell called him out at third base.  Hart played a mere 58 major league games in his career, accumulating 64 hits in 206 at-bats (a .311 batting average), with 23 RBIs.

* I’ve also seen his name listed as Burt Hart, but I haven’t been able to figure out where the discrepancy comes from.  If anyone has some insight, please enlighten me!

EDIT:  Thanks to The Baseball Bloggess, I have an answer to the mystery!  Hart was born James Burton Hart, and apparently had originally gone by “Burt,” until the media kept referring to him as “Jimmy.”  Gotta love the press!  It almost makes it sound like the guy had multiple personalities, which brings up the question: which one punched John Haskell?  Jimmy or Burt?

The rule of the umpire

August 3, 2015

Today, umpires in a baseball game play the role of neutral rule enforcement.  Prior to 1882, however, the game’s umpires were known to confer with whomever they wished in order to aid in making decisions.  A rule established in 1876 stated, “If an umpire is unable to see whether a catch has been fairly made, he may confer with spectators and players.”  The rule existed partly due to the fact that each game was typically overseen by a single umpire.  As you can probably imagine, however, hometown fans were often shameless in their biases, which did little to help the decision-making process.

By 1882, the idea of employing a staff of umpires was growing in popularity, and the league implemented a new rule stating, “Umpires may not confer with spectators or players.”  Naturally, the rule has evolved over the year, and today, RULE 9.04(C) reads:

If different decisions should be made on one play by different umpires, the umpire-in-chief shall call all the umpires into consultation, with no manager or player present. After consultation, the umpire-in-chief (unless another umpire may have been designated by the league president) shall determine which decision shall prevail, based on which umpire was in best position and which decision was most likely correct. Play shall proceed as if only the final decision had been made.

Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons